Épisodes

  • S5 Episode 22: Amosite
    Feb 16 2026

    Amosite, brown asbestos, was primarily mined in South Africa until about 2002. However, it was known to be highly toxic in the early 1900's and cancerous in the early 1930's. Although there were well documented health risks, it was still mined and used in an endless amount of common materials.

    In this episode we speaks with author and human rights lawyer David Kinley. He is the author of "In a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit, and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos." It's thr story of how CAPE Plc put workers and their families in harm's way, but it's also the story of how a lawyer named Richard Meeran, was able lead a victory against a large corporation.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    1 h et 6 min
  • S5 Episode 21: Dangerous Transgressions
    Dec 13 2025

    Dr. Stein worked as a forensic psychologist under California's Sexually Violent Predator Act. Her role was to evaluate violent sex offenders alone, one by one, at various prisons across the state. It was her job to determine whether these offenders were fit for release or would remain behind bars for the rest of their days.

    We caught up with Dr. Stein to discuss her book "Evil at Our Table: Inside the Minds of the Monsters Who Live Among Us" and what it was like to sit less than 3 feet away from some of the most danerous and violent offenders in the state of California.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    57 min
  • S5 Episode 20: Halloween Night with Mike Brown of Pleasing Terrors
    Nov 4 2025

    On Halloween night we had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Brown of the Pleasing Terrors podcast and the Pleasing Terrors Ghost Tour in Charleston, South Carolina! We discuss spooky tales from Charleston and other places that Mike has had a chance to visit. We also discuss some of our own experiences!

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    56 min
  • S5 Episode 19: Inside Scam Compounds
    Oct 28 2025

    What if the people running online scams weren't criminals by choice—but victims themselves?

    In this episode, we talk with Ivan Franceschini and Ling Li, authors of Scam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds, about the hidden world of online fraud across Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and the Philippines. Based on years of fieldwork, their book reveals how thousands of people are trafficked or coerced into "pig-butchering" romance scams and investment cons inside prison-like compounds.

    Franceschini and Li explain how organized crime, corruption, and technology have turned Southeast Asia into a global hub for cybercrime—and how many of the perpetrators are actually victims of modern slavery.

    Ivan Franceschini is a lecturer at the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, where he studies transnational crime and labor issues in China and Southeast Asia. Ling Li is a PhD researcher at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, focusing on technology's role in modern slavery and human trafficking. She also works directly with survivors of scam compounds across the region.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    1 h et 6 min
  • S5 Episode 18: Death and Everything After
    Oct 9 2025
    Death is universal, but it remains one of the least spoken about aspects of life. Sitting down with Aubrey Thamann and Kalliopi Christodoulaki, the editors of Beyond the Veil: Reflexive Studies of Death and Dying, we explore how grief, mortality, and memory shape our personal and collective lives.
    We explore the deeply personal and profoundly cultural dimensions of death: how communities ritualize dying and remembrance, how grief reshapes our sense of self, and how researchers grapple with their own mortality in the course of their work. Thamann and Christodoulaki remind us that studying death is not an abstract exercise—it's an act of reflexivity that brings us face to face with what it means to be human.

    Together, we ask pressing questions: What can grief teach us about resilience and connection? How do cultural practices around death shape our collective memory? Also, why is it so important to talk openly about death and dying?
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    1 h et 12 min
  • S5 Episode 17: A Murder in the Outer Banks
    Sep 24 2025

    On the morning of August 28, 1993, the quiet shores of Nags Head, North Carolina, were shattered when 35-year-old visitor Janet Siclari was found raped and fatally stabbed behind the Carolinian hotel. What followed was a decades-long pursuit of justice marked by false leads, courtroom drama, and groundbreaking DNA technology.

    In this episode, we talk with investigative author John Railey, whose new bookThe Carolinian Murder at Nags Head: The Janet Siclari Story tells the full story of this brutal crime for the first time. Drawing on exclusive interviews with insiders, John unravels the twists and turns that led to a conviction—and the lingering questions about who else might have been involved.

    We also explore John's deep ties to the Outer Banks, his career as a journalist, and how his body of work has consistently sought truth and justice in some of North Carolina's darkest stories.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    42 min
  • S5 Episode 16: Allan Pinkerton-America's First Detective
    Sep 5 2025

    You may have heard of "The Pinkertons," the infamous detective and spy agency that dealt with matters of national intelligence and security, labor union disputes and much more. But what do you know about Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency?

    Author Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones explores the life and adventures of Pinkerton in his latest book, "Allan Pinkerton: America's Legendary Detective and the Birth of Private Security." With Rhodri, we trace Pinkerton's unlikely rise from a Scottish immigrant to America's first "detective," his role in protecting Abraham Lincoln, his battles with outlaws and activists, and the controversial methods that made his agency both feared and admired. Rhodri also helps us separate fact from legend, while reflecting on how Pinkerton's legacy continues to influence modern security and surveillance.

    We'll also learn more about Rhodri himself: born in Wales in 1942, descended from poets, miners, and industrialists, educated at Cambridge, Michigan, and Harvard, and a longtime professor at the University of Edinburgh who has written more than twenty books on American history.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    57 min
  • S5 Episode 15: Deep Sleep
    Aug 11 2025
    Step inside one of the most disturbing chapters in modern psychiatry. In this episode, author and journalist Jon Stock joins us to discuss his book The Sleep Room: A Sadistic Psychiatrist and the Women Who Survived Him, an investigation into the shocking experiments of Dr. William Sargant in 1960s London.
    Sargant's so-called treatments—prolonged drug-induced sleep, electroconvulsive therapy, and other invasive procedures—left deep scars on the women subjected to them, many without their consent.

    We also hear from Mary, a survivor of the Sleep Room, who shares her firsthand experience of life inside those locked hospital wards. Her story brings a haunting, personal dimension to Stock's reporting, shedding light on the lasting impact of medical abuse and the courage it takes to speak out.
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    1 h et 9 min